Blogroll

Archive for May, 2009

This band is better-known as the smaller side-project of another bigger band led by the same dude. It’s obvious, isn’t it. Nope, not The Raconteurs. This B.C. band makes fuzzy, semi-psychedelic rock and folk – lo-fi style. The band of the week is…

PINK MOUNTAINTOPS!!!

So I gotta go to sleep soon because I’ve got work tomorrow but here’s what I will write about the Pink Mountaintops: led by bearded guru Stephen McBean (who also leads Black Mountain), Pink Mountaintops began as a fuzzier, more stripped down outlet for McBean’s psych-folk…but it was pretty lame…until now.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yXzrvX-C1o]

Pink Mountaintops third album, Outside Love, is inexplicably awesome. Embalmed in fuzzy noise textures, the album’s songs are grand in their own simplistic way despite the small production and simplistic arrangements. This never sounds like a fully-fledged band the way Black Mountain does and it’s not supposed to. Even when there’s strings, drums, cellos, guitars, etc., it always sounds homely and pocket-sized. But that’s what gives it its charm.

So yeah, Outside Love, sick album and therefore Pink Mountaintops = awesome band. Get on it.

My buddies in The Weathermaking Challenge are playing tonight at The Cat’s Eye (it’s right near Museum Station, google it or something). Check it out, great band. Also, I hear the band that’s going on at 7 is amazing…

This week’s artist of the week is a distinctive-voiced Canadian songwriter known for his sharp melodic sense and obscure lyrics. He’s been releasing albums for the last ten years, evolving slowly and strangely with each one. In addition to his solo work, he’s also a member of the New Pornographers, Hello Blue Roses, as well as the indie-supergroup Swan Lake. Who else could it be but…

DESTROYER!!!

Yes, the ever-lovable Dan Bejar has gone from making lo-fi solo four-track records to a respectable indie artist with a backing band and dedicated fan base. Though his sound has transformed from the goofy homespun pop of City Of Daughters to the synth-orchestral Your Blues to the sharp rock of Trouble In Dreams, his wiry, elastic vocals and ridiculous lyrics have remained consistent throughout the years and his various side/additional projects.

Though Destroyer is quite an original, critics sometimes compare him to glam rock artists like David Bowie and Marc Bolan. I’ve never really thought the comparison was very appropriate, though he does have a penchant for Bowie circa Ziggy Stardust-esque guitar sounds. His vocals set the stage for sound-alikes like Colin Meloy and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Alec Ounsworth and are among the most recognizable in the indie-rock universe.

Despite the fact that his records include a myriad of instruments and additional musicians, they always feel very much like smaller, solo-albums, possibly due to added emphasis on Bejar’s vocals and guitar lines. Strangely, his work with The New Pornographers and Swan Lake feel very much like the product of a band, despite being definitely Bejar-ian in construction.

Welcome to Grubtunes’ coverage of Over The Top Fest 2009, the Toronto-wide all-ages music festival taking place Thursday May 21st to Saturday May 23rd.

Those in the know are aware that Over The Top Fest is the brainchild of Toronto’s Eric Warner: a 25-year-old entrepreneur who’s been setting up concerts around Toronto for the last ten years. Warner is also the owner of We Are Busy Bodies, a record label and management company that works with bands like DD/MM/YY, Meligrove Band and By Divine Right.

Unassuming in appearance, though articulate, Warner seems surprisingly modest and mild mannered for a young, successful businessman who runs a respectable label, management and promotional company and deals with some of the bigger names in indie rock on a day to day basis.

Warner got into the concert business at the tender age of 15, beginning with a small concert in a small anarchist store in Kensington Market called Who’s Emma? (which sadly no longer exists):

“I started writing a zine when I was 14 called Wacked Out and then from there I put out a few issues, I was like, “You know what, I’ve been able to interview bands, I’ve been able to do these different things – I’m gonna try and put on a concert.” My friend Zack at the time had put on a few shows, so he gave me a little bit of insight and a few other friends gave me some insight and I thought, “ok, I’m gonna go for it.” Says Warner.So that kind of worked out really nicely and I gained some experience, like, “You know what? This is cool, let’s try doing this again.” And then my second show also sold out, and then it was like, “Ok, I’m gonna keep trying to do this,” and it kept growing and growing.

In 2002 Warner began the now-annual Over The Top Festival. He was 18.

“The goal of it was to put on an all-ages music festival – at that point it didn’t expand into film and theatre – to allow people of all-ages to have the opportunity to see bands that were really interesting or really great that were not only Canadian, but international as well. And really, that’s how it started initially and each year more shows were added and the focus kind of opened up a little bit more to allow me to program more theatre, film, art events, and things of that nature.”

In 2002, the festival had acts playing at three different venues. Now in its eight year, the festival includes events of several different mediums taking place at upwards of 40 venues located across the city. And it’s still all all-ages, which, in Toronto with its ridiculously tough liquor-license laws, makes everything a lot harder and a lot more expensive. But undaunted, Warner is already thinking about how he’s going to make next year’s Over The Top bigger and better.

“I want to keep making it interesting as possible for people in terms of engagement but also making sure that I’m reaching the audiences at all times.”

And although Warner claims that he’ll be checking out every single event twice each night of the festival, he did mention that he was particularly looking forward to seeing Woods[8 at the Whippersnapper Gallery on Friday, the 22nd] and Tiny Masters of Today[7 at the Whippersnapper Gallery on Saturday, the 23rd].